A Crooked Piece Of Joy
by Allyanime
Summary: Sabo is alive on Dragon's ship, he remembers the things that he wished he had forgotten; and sets out determined to reunite with his little brother, Luffy- who is still silently suffering from Ace's death. Will the two ever meet? Two years later, no yaoi.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi I'm Ally! **

**This is my first time posting a Fanfic, (even though I've written some before, I usually stop myself from posting for whatever weird reason...)**

**Okay, so last night I think I seriously was up till 4am looking for a good "Sabo comes back" type of Fanfic, and I really couldn't find any that had a good plot line and or didn't stop in the middle…**

**So I decided to write one…:) **

**This takes place after the Fishman island arc (I will probably explain it later :') **

**OK, here's the first chapter, I hope you like it!**

_~EDIT: I fixed some things~_

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><p>His arm lay there, resting against the hard wooden railing, a seemingly forgotten navy blue hat was held on tightly by a young man's scarred hand.<p>

It was at least midnight, no wait I've been out here for a while, so it's probably later. He sighed as he mentally corrected himself.

It was a beautiful night, the kind that made you glance up in awe; the whole night sky was engulfed by a spread of a million stars.

But, the most spectacular was the white moon, which hung crookedly perfect; glowing full and proud.

Yet, tonight the young man could not fully appreciate the glowing night sky; his mind was somewhere else restless with memories, the unforgettable and harsh that tore and sliced rhythmically away at his sanity.

Yup he has definitely been going crazy these days.

It has been almost over two years since _that_ day, and throughout those years he has been able to accept what happened, move on from the past and focus on the future right? Well, that was one way.

Yet still…the regrets would always remain as painful reminders one way or another.

And lately, he had been doing such a good job at suppressing those types of thoughts… But then suddenly and usually at complete random the memories would pop up again. It was so despicable…

Then of course, when you have that mindset going, it's hard not to believe in the morbid possibility that he could have lost them both.

Throughout the past twelve years he has saw Luffy's bounty rise, read every newspaper article Dragon handed him proudly, and not to mention the fact that there was defiantly no doubt of Luffy being stronger than the average pirate, and to have that added with the rumors of him being sighted at Sabaody Archipelago, made him believe that there was a chance that Luffy had survived post-war.

Yet, there were still so many people that firmly believed after the war he was killed by the marines, which is logical… with him being missing for the last two years, not to mention the fact that Luffy had opposed the World Government directly multiple times...

He nodded his head upward to look at the eastern sky, a habit he had accepted from Dragon.

"Luffy, are you...still alright out there?" Sabo whispered in the cool night air.

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><p>It has been twelve long years since he last saw his brothers, the memory that hasn't came up since Ace's death unwilling fled back into his mind as he thought about his childhood, filled with happiness and dotted with despair; he turned around so his back was leaning against the railing, closing his eyes to remember the good memories, the ones he would never want to forget.<p>

Those were the days that now seemed so far away, almost like they took place in a completely different world; a world of mutual brotherhood and happiness.

He remembered the days that he shared happily with his two brothers, they were some of the best in his life, not to confuse that he did not enjoy spending time with the Revolutionary army, but all the magnificent adventures, laughs and even occasional fights that brothers had together as kids shaped out where he was now. Back then, even though it was short, was a happy time, a time they all shared as a side by side, trio.

Sabo thought back to the day he sat locked in his room, sitting at his desk writing the letter that he (even now), hoped so badly that his brothers would receive. That was the day when he was finally going to be free of all the stuck up self centered nobles.

It was a warm and sunny day, the day that everyone in High Town had been happily preparing for, the arrival of the Celestial Dragons.

His parents and Stelly, like everyone else were eagerly waiting at the dock for their arrival, so it was only Sabo and the two guards that stood watch by the door that were in the mansion, perfect time to escape, the young Sabo thought as he made his way over to his bed, careful to be unnoticed by the chatting guards.

He stuck his hand under the bed and in one swift motion, yanked out his familiar pipe and soon heard the crack as hard steel meet the two bodyguard's fat heads, knocking them unconscious.

"Hmm... I sure hope I didn't kill them..." Sabo thought aloud as he cracked open the boarded-up window and jumped from the three story building and meet the ground, landing safely on his feet of course.

Sabo smiled, his plan was going great; all time he was suppose to be studying since he was brought back was mainly spent plotting for this day.

"Now for the ship…" he said hoping that the small fishing boat he had seen while with Ace and Luffy a couple weeks ago was still docked at the bay.

Sabo chuckled at the memory of the old man's shocked face as he watched a ten year old kid hijack his prized fishing boat.

And so, that was the day, which Sabo set out to become the freest pirate.

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><p>"But of course things went wrong, don't they always?" He mumbled sadly to himself.<p>

It was the man Dragon, cloaked and tattooed, who had found Sabo's sad little shipwreck, tattered and drifting northward; Dragon looked down at the little blond kid's familiar body, though it was burned quite badly, and dark blood was seeping down the side of his face from a harsh gash that lead from his eyebrow to the bottom of his left eye, his features were still somewhat recognizable…where have I seen that face before? Dragon wondered, rather bothered.

Then it clicked for him, ahh… Dragon smiled sadly, it was that boy that he had met in Edge Town, the bruised up little fellow who was…ashamed of being born a noble. Dragon looked down at the kid again, remembering his distressing words.

"Well even if he is already dead can't just leave him floating here…" Dragon said, feeling that it was unrespectable to leave a kid lying in the ocean, which was defiantly something the Tenryubito would do.

"Ivankov… please come here." Dragon called out wearily to his okama queen crewmate, if this boy was still alive, it was defiant that only he could ever hope to save him.

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><p>The following few days were filled with blurry and extremely painful procedures for the ten year old Sabo.<p>

"Dragon san, I vave successfully managed to seal up vall of his life-threatening vounds," Iva paused to point at the young boy, bandaged and breathing hard on the nearby bed, "Yet still, he is very voung and his skin probably von't heal for a vhile, if ever." Ivankov sighed.

Dragon nodded, "Well I'm very glad to hear that he will be well, thank you Ivankov san."

"Oh, and valso, he has been talking quite a lot in his sleep…which may cause some trauma problems later on… " Iva glanced at the mumbling Sabo.

"Hmm, well then what has he been saying…?" Dragon asked, slightly curious.

"Vell…quite dark things actually, mumbling about noble stuff, a fire; which I suppose is va same one we vitnessed… also crying vut Ace and Luffy… brothers I vuppose?"

Dragon mentally smiled at the mention of Luffy, so he is well after all? How wonderful, Dragon thought.

"Well why not give him some sleep medicine then?" Dragon suggested.

"Good idea, Dragon san."

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><p>When Sabo finally woke up, immediately his first thought was that he was dead, his whole ship including him was blown to pieces and drowned in the ocean right?<p>

But this isn't right… I'm still alive? Sabo thought to himself, just as a large strange looking (man?) with wild purple hair walked in.

"Ah, so va dead boy has finally avaken?" Iva chuckled to himself.

"Ww-what happened?" Sabo stuttered, finding that his throat was unbelievably dry and burning miserably.

Ivankov reached over to hand him a glass of water and watched him gulp it down quickly.

"Vell, Dragon found you just barely holding on to a piece ov your broken little ship, so he veiled you up here; and I fixed vou up," Iva smiled down at the boy, "oh van also, since you just voke up… that should mean that the pain medicine vill be vearing off soon also…so in a few hours you vill feel like…well hell."

Sabo set the empty glass down on a side table to examine his hands, the flesh was burned so badly in spots that it must've cut through at several layers of skin, he was very glad he couldn't currently feel anything.

"Thank you… for your kindness." Sabo bowed his head remembering his rarely used manners.

"No problem kid, vish I could give vou more pain medicine, vough it looks as we are all out..."

A few hours later Sabo realized what Ivankov was talking about, his whole body felt like it was being burnt all over again, a hundred times through; the raw skin was everywhere, and every time he tried to move it felt as though sharp knives were digging into his flesh. The searing pain was sharp and endless, crushing any hope of falling asleep that night, so instead of sleeping he laid there sweating in pain thinking.

Sabo was almost certain that Ace and Luffy must think he was dead; the word must've gotten around to the mountain bandits by now, and Sabo desperately didn't want to think of how his brothers would react to the news of him "dying", especially Luffy, who was already such a crybaby, who always needed his older brothers near him; the idea of his reaction to hearing that one of his brothers had died tore around at Sabo's insides.

Over the course of the next few days, he thought about going back to East Blue, to reassure them that he was okay. But if he did go back...he could never reach freedom, Sabo knew that he would be locked up in close watch with not even a chance for escape, he knew that if he went back it was probably impossible to stay with his brothers, and if he did returned, was found and locked up; Sabo was sure that Ace and Luffy would attempt to rescue him, and if they failed...he didn't want to think about it.

So over the next few weeks, he gritted his teeth together, and tried to put up with the pain of his whole body being light on fire, and when it slowly seemed to be getting better, and when he regained some what of his vocal strength, he was able to meet Dragon; Sabo was surprised that he was the same man that he met at Edge Town, and even more surprised of how much he seemed to resembled Luffy.

So, from that day on he was a part of the Revolutionary Army, the thought that one day he could fulfill his promise and meet his brothers again, made him smile; thinking of seeing their familiar faces is what made him promise to himself that he would become stronger.

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><p>Sabo stood against the railing of Dragon's ship for a while longer, before breathing in deeply and leaning down to pick up his dropped hat.<p>

Luffy, if your still alive… I'm going to meet you again, okay?

"But just where the hell are you?"

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><p><strong>I hoped you liked it! I'll update soon, next chapter will be Luffy's I think…<strong>

**~Allyanime**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, chapter 2! **

**(Finally…)**

**Sorry for the late chapter; strangely I was actually *gasp* busy the past few weeks! Yeah I know it's very odd for me to do stuff other than draw and write fanfic's all day during summer vacation. :P**

**So anyway, I promise I'll update more frequently from now on and maybe this'll be finished by the end of summer ;')**

**Hope you like it!**

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><p><em>A little earlier that day…<em>

"LUFFY!" Nami bent over to scream angrily in the sleeping captain's face.

The young captain quickly jolted awake, nearly falling off the lion figure head while doing so.

"Oi…Nami, what's up?" Luffy said, still waking up from his previous daydream.

"It's time to eat, so stop being lazy and get the heck to the table Luffy!" Nami yelled; shocked by the fact of how strange it was that Luffy was not first at the dinner table.

"WHAT? I'TS DINN-ER TIME? The young man jumped down quickly from the ship's head, running fully towards the table where the rest of his crew had already gathered.

"Oi, captain you're a bit late…That's quite strange…" Robin looked questionably across the table at Luffy, who had already eaten at least three platefuls of Sanji's cooking.

"Mhmafu!" Luffy replied to Robin.

"….…"

Although the rest of meal was without a doubt tasty, as it always was; it was strangely eerie and unusual for the rest of the straw-hats, who spent most of their dinner glancing at each other and uncertainly at their captain; who was of course, to busy eating to perceive their worried looks.

After the meal, everyone headed off in different directions to do their usual duties, or to go follow the daily routines of theirs.

Sanji headed towards the kitchen to clean up the remainder mess from dinner, with Nami heading the opposite direction to check up on her precious orange trees.

Zoro was on his way to the ship's deck to train, where he stopped briefly to watch as his captain dozed off into a light sleep atop the wooden figurehead.

Usopp headed down to his workshop, joking with Chopper and Brooke as they walked through the ship's galley, passing Franky as he was inspecting the many rows of cannons along the Thousand Sunny, also passing by Robin as she was settling down into her usual chair, pulling out her book to read.

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><p>Well… It's not like this has all just started, Zoro thought as he again, glanced over at his sleeping captain, steadily lifting the weights clutched in his hands; this was by far the most relaxing part of his evening training and was also the time that he thought things over the most.<p>

Luffy has been like this ever since we met back up, keeping up on the same immature personality, but still at times it would always seem as though he was trying to hide something from them; it was the way he would gaze out at the sea sorrowfully, try and force a smile when he knew he couldn't, sadly murmur words in his sleep, and then pretend it was all okay if ever questioned about any of it.

Nevertheless it was there, he was at least more or less sure of that fact. But still, the question be that the bizarre behavior they have been witnessing of their captain was due to the simple fact that Luffy *gasp* had actually matured some throughout the two years of training, or the more believable fact that it was from the leftover grief of his elder brother dying, was still being left unanswered to the crew .

Well whatever it was, it sure as hell has been irritating Zoro a lot lately, if it is that Luffy mourns his brother that greatly, then why not just tell his crew? We are nakama after all, and have been through so much together that our selfless captain should at least acknowledge the fact that they we all here for him! Zoro sighed angrily at the thought of his captain being mentally unhappy and then trying so hard to hide it from the rest of them.

Nevertheless, it was nearly impossible to get Luffy to ever unwillingly share his feelings to the crew, for the fear that he might cause an unnecessary burden on any of them; would in his mind result to being weaker, or less dependable as the captain.

Although, since it is Luffy we're talking about, he would never guess that sometimes the crew needs to be able to reassure him, just for the satisfaction of making sure that he does not go to insane and start thinking that he is in this all alone.

What a strange captain we have… Zoro thought distracted as his grip on the five-hundred pound weights fumbled, and he watched them slip between his fingers and carelessly hit the ship's wooden floor with a load "thud."

"Shit…" Zoro muttered angry at his unusual clumsiness as he heard Franky's shocked voice shout from the floorboards below him.

Zoro looked over at Luffy, relived to see that he wasn't at all affected by the loud noise and still sleeping soundly.

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><p>"Oi, Vice Admiral Hachiro! Look a pirate ship is sailing over there!" a young Marine shouted loudly across the deck.<p>

The Vice Admiral's face went blank with fear, as memories from the years ago came back to him, "That flag symbol…Could it be..?"

"Hachiro, Sir! It is most defiantly them!" Another higher up Marine confirmed as he watched the nearing pirate ship closely through a telescope.

"Straw hats….They're alive!" The Vice Admiral shouted to his fleet.

Why were those bastards here? He, like everyone else in the Marine Corps had heard the rumors of their return at Fishman Island, but nobody had believed them to be true; after all, wasn't it their very own Admirals who finished Straw Hat off after the war? How horrid the Vice Admiral thought, to be caught in a situation like this; He could not back down due to his rank, but still…Would he be able to get out of this alive?

"Well what do we do Sir?" The Marine that spotted the ship asked worryingly.

"Men," He paused for a dramatic affect "we will fight them like Marines!" The Vice Admiral shouted encouragingly.

The fleet shivered and remained silent for a moment, but swallowed hard and pushed the fear of their soon to be suicide mission away, this is why they had registered to become Marines! To fight the evil pirates of this world, like the Mugiwara's!

Soon the whole ship was filled with shouts and cries for the upcoming battle against the Straw Hats.

"Ready your swords men, and prepare to FIGHT!"

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><p>"Sanji come here for a second!" Nami yelled over her shoulder, into the kitchen where the cook was checking the food inventory.<p>

"Yes Nami swan?" the cook was almost immediately at her side.

"I know this probably isn't a big deal, but a Marine ship is approaching our ship and I wouldn't want it to cause an unnecessary disruption this evening." Nami smiled very aware of the fact that any one of their nakama could easily sink the miniature sized Marine ship.

Sanji grinned, "Anything for you, Nami san!" He proclaimed watching the tiny marine ship near closer.

"How pathetic, just look at that thing go!" Zoro chuckled devilishly as he entered onto the deck, his mossy green hair still damp from his recent shower.

"Oi…Marimo," Sanji smiled "Wanna see which one of us can knock down the most Marines?"

"You're on curly brow." Zoro grinned, reaching back to pull out his katanas, as the Marine ship docked a few meters away from the Thousand Sunny.

"Listen up, Straw hat crew! This is Vice Admiral Hachiro speaking; you'd better surrender right now if you ever want a chance to live!" A booming voice shouted towards Zoro and Sanji.

"But sir, we were going to kill them anyways right? So why are we now saying they can live?" A voice whispered from behind Hachiro.

"Oh, you're right lad...STRAW HATS, WE WILL MURDER YOU EITHER WAY!" He shouted proudly.

"What the heck is he mumbling about over there?" Zoro yawned

"Ahh, who knows?" Sanji shrugged swinging his leg up to his usual kicking position and heading towards the annoying voice.

"Hey bastard brow, that's unfair. No. Head. Starts." Zoro grumbled.

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><p>The "battle" didn't last more than two minutes, with about two dozen Marines tossed carelessly in the ocean; the remainder were forced to retreat, and hurried back to their ship to report to the base.<p>

"So…who won?" Robin asked as she glanced up from the book she was reading, to stare at the swordsman and cook, who were laughing and splattered with the Marine's vibrant red blood.

"I did." They both said at the same time.

Robin smiled, returning to her book as the two begun a fight amongst each other.

"Oi, what's with the noise bro?" Franky commented, dusking off his enormous hands as he walked out from his workshop.

"Just Zoro and Sanji fighting over who knocked out the most Marines." Nami sighed

"Ah, the usual." Franky laughed, settling down in a lounge chair across from Robin.

He glanced over at Luffy, who was not-so surprisingly still sleeping, murmuring quiet unrecognizable words in his sleep.

"Is it just me, or has Luffy-bro been sleeping way more than usual these days?" Franky asked openly.

"Well, it could be exhaust from the fight with Hondi a few days ago…" Sanji commented; the brawl between Zoro and him now over; with no one claimed as a winner.

Zoro and Franky looked doubtingly at him.

"Yeah…I know Luffy doesn't tire out from fights that easily." Sanji sighed.

"And it isn't like he's not strong or energetic, because it seems that he has become even more so after the two years since we saw him." Nami added.

"Guess that s just Luffy for you." Robin said adding "Goodnight everyone, I'm going in early."

Sanji glanced up at the darkening night sky, "Good night Robin channn!"

"Well since Choppers on guard tonight, I'm heading in as well." Zoro said waving lightly backwards to the remaining strawhats.

"Wait Zoro, shouldn't we move Luffy inside?" Franky asked seeing as though it was pretty likely that he would fall into the water in the middle of the night, and with no one there to swim down and get him, things could end badly for the devil's fruit user.

Zoro turned around and scratched his head, "Hmm guess so…"

He yawned and knelt down gently to lift Luffy's still body from the figurehead, slinging the boy softly over his shoulder.

As he begun to carry him to the men's quarters Luffy started to shift around and mutter softly, not wanting him to wake up anymore than he already was, Zoro laid the boy down safety against the frame of the ship and shrugged to the rest of the crew.

"Goodnight Lu." He muttered to the boy as he stood up, walking back to the cabin.

Nami yawned stretched out lazily on the deck chair, "It's such a beautiful clear sky tonight, perfect for stargazing too."

"Yeah, it is almost as beautiful as you Nami san." Sanji grinned fully as he got up to head in for bed.

"Ohyasumi, Nami san!" he waved, patting Luffy's straw hat as he walked past the sleeping boy.

Franky stretched and followed Sanji into the boy's cabin room, calling out to Chopper to remind him of his guarding duties tonight.

Nami walked back to the girl's cabin, glancing up at the sky one more time before entering the room shared by Robin and her.

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><p>Luffy had woken up a considerable amount of time later, covered in sticky sweat and finding that he was lying rested up against the ship's wall with Chopper leaning against his left shoulder soundly asleep.<p>

Taking care not to wake the softly snoring reindeer, Luffy briskly attempted at standing, but soon found that to be a nearly impossible task, collapsing backwards onto the ship's wooden floor.

He yanked his legs up to his chest and breathed into the night air with a series of short strained gasps, his mind already starting at the attempt at reassurance.

_It was just a dream dammit! So please get over it already! _

_They're never coming back, okay? So what's even the point of pretending?_

He bit down hard against his tongue till he could taste the painfully sweet scent of blood in his mouth, a futile attempt of trying to prevent the spread of tears which were now dripping freely down the side of his face, and into his trembling hands.

Bu...But...Why had they been different tonight? He thought, quivering silently on the floor of the Sunny.

The two years since Ace's death had been filled with horrid dreams that would occur almost nightly, though with them being only a series of blurs and faces, it was nothing compared to what he experienced tonight.

They were so vivid and real, almost like… the perfect replay?

He was still breathing hard and making sure he wasn't dreaming, _why tonight?_ He thought, the last time he had such a vibrant horrid nightmare, was when Ace died.

He lied his back down on the cold wooden floor of his ship, and let his arms hang loosely outstretched at his sides, his fingertips softly tapping above the floorboards.

Luffy tilted his head to look upwards at the night sky, a painful smile forming at the corner of his lips.

"I miss you guys."

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><p><strong>Okay… I know this one was short…and stuff, BUT GUESS WHAT?<strong>

**I finally got to write me some Luffy torture! (Gawd I love that stuff! I really think Oda needs to draw more of it lol xD)**

**Review please! I want to know how I can improve, so don't be afraid to critique!**

**Also, I think that "Bastard brow" is my new favorite insult for Sanji! Sorry hun!**

**Thanks for reading, and I'll probably update next week sometime!**


	3. Chapter 3

**So long from my last update, désolé, désolé don't yell too loudly at me!**

**But please don't worry, I'm defiantly not gonna abandon this fic! Cuz the next few chapters are going to be awesome, and a **_**slightly **_**less angst-y than the first two.**

**I've been really looking forward to writing them ;)**

**Okay, and just so you know I re-wrote some of the first two chapters, so you might want to reread them.**

**Okay. Let's. Get. This. Started!**

**(This chapter has some naughty language and OCs, so be warned k?) **

**:')**

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><p>"Gosh, are you seriously just going to lie like that all day?" Makoto muttered as he settled atop the thick wooden railing, a full cup of steaming coffee resting in both hands.<p>

He grinned down disapprovingly at his sleeping friend; really how shamelessly stupid can you get Sabo? Don't you know that there are young women aboard this ship?

Sometimes, no wait… _Most times?_ Well anyway, most of the times I cannot even begin to understand you at all, much less waste my time trying to decipher your strange habits.

So now, please tell me exactly what is wrong with walking couple of extra feet down to your room? Do you really need sprawl your whole body across the main deck, and then continue snoring happily as people trip over you and kick your gut?

And lastly, let me ask you this, okay? Who in their right mind can fall asleep peacefully sprawled across the floor of the ship wearing only boxers and a hat? Eh, Sabo?

Sometimes I cannot believe that you are four years older than me…

Makoto sighed; lifting the warm brownish liquid to his lips, looking up just as a young man came bursting through the stairway onto the deck carrying an armful of bottles.

"Hey, Takumi watch-" Just as Makoto warned his incoming friend, a loud 'thud' echoed across the deck, causing him to set his mug down and glance over to see what happened.

"Ouch, damn why would you lie right there idiot?" Takumi yelled angrily at the soundly sleeping blonde boy.

Makoto smiled smugly, Takumi always had a short temper; especially in the morning before he had time to use it up on his energetic underlings.

"This is for tripping me you bastard." He grinned devilishly, raising his heel just above the blonde's neck.

Makoto watched with little interest, and then took another sip from his mug.

Takumi plunged his foot down _hard_, using his full leg force to smack his bare heel onto the neck of the boy lying on the ground before him.

"You're a tad late, _sorry_." In one grinning motion Sabo's eyes shot open and he grabbed the man's incoming ankle and threw him _hard_ across the floor of the ship, sending him flying against the nearest railing.

"Oh, good morning Sabo." Makoto waved over to the boy who was now sitting uprightly cross-legged on the deck.

"G'morning guys! I fell asleep here?" Sabo laughed as he got up and walked over to help Takumi off the ground.

"Morning asshole." Takumi mimicked sarcastically

Sabo smiled and reached his hand outward to the brown haired man.

Takumi looked up and swatted Sabo's hand away, then unsteadily lifted himself off the ground while rubbing his sore arm.

"Damn you Sabo, where did my sake go?"

"I think it rolled over that way." Sabo pointed as he yawned and settled down on the floor again, his back leaning against the ship's side.

Takumi spotted the bottle and scooped it up, "Good thing it didn't split open." He muttered

"Makoto, you want some?" Takumi asked as he hopped up on the railing and nudged the bottle at the golden haired man's face.

"For one, it's nine in the morning. And two, as the hundredth time that I'm telling you, that stuff tastes like complete crap." Makoto explained, setting down his third empty mug of coffee.

Takumi sighed and took another swing from the bottle.

"Fine, just go and drink your frappy little cappuccinos, sissy boy!" Takumi ranted, pointing the bottle accusingly at Makoto.

Makoto scratched his head; it was getting harder to ignore the annoying shouting coming from the man sitting next to him. He turned to look downwards at Sabo, who was strangely quiet this morning.

"Oi…Sabo?

"What's up?" Sabo asked curiously.

Before Makoto had time to answer a dark haired man came walking silently into view of the three men.

"Hey, Dragon-san! Want some booze?" Takumi waved to the nearing man.

Dragon gave Takumi a death glare, and then turned to Sabo.

"You may find this interesting." Dragon said with a grin as he tossed a beaten up newspaper in front of the boy.

"Thanks?" Sabo replied as he looked down at the barely eligible ink and torn paper.

"It's been through a lot to get here." Dragon loosely explained

Sabo shrugged and picked up the paper carefully, as Dragon interrupted him.

"Oh, and Sabo?"

"Huh?"

"Please put some pants on." Dragon waved over his shoulder as he walked back down to his office with a smug grin.

"Oi, dude I totally agree with Dragon-san! It's inappropriate to walk around wearing only a top hat and underwear! Especially since Dodiu's niece comes to visit so often…I mean she's only thirteen! God, no need to be polluting her mind this early! " Takumi laughed, throwing an empty bottle of sake at Sabo's head.

Sabo grinned and caught the bottle midair. "Still angry because you fell over me this morning?"

"Totally, bastard!" Takumi grinned.

Makoto sighed and rubbed his temples as he quickly turned towards Takumi. "You're so annoying" were his last words as he easily pushed the confused man over the edge of the ship.

"AHH? BASTAR-" Takumi shouted as his words became muffled and the water grasped at him from beneath.

"Ah, so much better." Makoto smiled.

"Umm…are you sure he ain't gonna drown down there Makoto?"

Makoto shrugged. "I think he's a pretty good swimmer."

Sabo smiled and shook his head.

"So Sabo, what is it that you will find interesting in today's newspaper?"

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot!" Sabo swiped up the newspaper on the ground to his lap, scanning the page with his eyes quietly.

Sabo's face went blank for a moment; and then what Makoto could only describe to be pure joy cross the young man's face.

Sabo could barely concentrate on the article in front of him, his hands trembled and he was grinning much like a madman.

"Ahh...I knew you couldn't be killed off that easily little bro." Sabo muttered, just quiet enough that Makoto couldn't hear over the sounds of waves hitting the ship.

"I'm gonna go talk with Dragon!" Sabo yelled as he sprung up, the newspaper clutched tightly in his hands as he sprinted across the ship.

"Umm, Okay see you later?"

"I wonder what was written that could have made him so happy?" Makoto wondered aloud.

"Dude, it's the drugs! He's after them!" A voice called out from below. "Oh, and Makoto! Throw me down one of those floaty things okay?" Takumi added.

Makoto looked over the railing, and saw a _very_ wet and smiley Takumi holding tightly to the side of Dragon's ship.

Makoto frowned,"Drugs eh?"

* * *

><p>"Dragon!"<p>

"Eh, Sabo I thought I told you to put on pants?" Dragon looked questionably at the young man before him.

"Jeez, I will…" Sabo grumbled

"So, I take it you read the article?" Dragon smiled

Sabo grinned, "Dragon, he's here in the New World, I'm going to see him."

"But think now, are you sure that's the best thing to do?"

Sabo looked up confusingly at Dragon's serious face, _what does he mean? Of course it's the thing to do he's my little brother; I have to go see him!_

Dragon sighed, "Well, although I know that you want to rush over and see him as soon as possible, is that the right thing? How would he react? He thinks you are dead."

"Then it's a good thing to reassure him that I'm still alive!" Sabo shouted

"And when you leave him again? Are you planning on quitting the Revolutionaries to join the Straw hat pirates?" Dragon asked calmly

Sabo paused, "No, I'm not going to quit. I'll say goodbye and leave, simple as that."

"Do what you think is right Sabo, I'm won't stop you."

Sabo mentally rolled his eyes, why did Dragon always have to be like this?

"I will, and can I borrow one of our wooden boats?

"Sure I'll have Aoi set it in the water." He paused "And also, please tell Luffy I say hello."

Sabo chuckled, "Sure thing Dragon!"

Sabo waved over his shoulder and ran to the cabin room he shared with Makoto and a few other Revolutionaries.

He searched his drawer quickly for his usual outfit, a navy coat and pants; oh wait...His eyes settled in the corner.

"Damn I forgot, someone split beer all over it yesterday…" he looked at the heap of messy blue fabric that he was too lazy to clean yesterday.

_Whatever, Lu will just have to guess a little._

He searched through the shared clothes drawer and pulled out a pair of Makoto's neon orange shorts, and yanked them up so that they were knee length.

Makoto will be pissed if I take any more of his clothes...So hey, might as well go shirtless! Sabo chuckled sadly; it would be just like Ace had.

Sabo grabbed his eight foot iron pipe from behind the bed, although this version was upgraded to the point that it and even had poison gas slots hidden within, not to mention about fifty other contractions he's been building up in it the past years; he never could grow out of his favorite weapon, just the familiar feel of metal in his hands was instantly relaxing.

Hell, having a pipe in my hands is like snuggling some sort of messed up teddy bear. Sabo smiled swinging it to fit comfortably behind his neck.

He searched around the room for a pen and paper, and quickly scribbled a note for whomever cared where he was going.

_I'm looking for my little brother, b back in a (week?) _

_don't steal my sake_

_~Sabo_

_(PS- Makoto I took your pants.)_

He dropped the note on his bed; placing his hat on as he briskly walked out the door of the cabin.

He waved goodbye to Aoi and the other few Revolutionary soldiers loitering around the deck of the ship, and set sail alone for the first time in years.

* * *

><p>"Sabo has a brother? That's weird I wonder why he never mentioned it...?"<p>

"Huh?" Makoto looked up from the book he was reading.

"Oh, he left a note" Takumi answered

Makoto took the scrap of paper from Takumi's hands.

"That bastard stole my pants!" Makoto grumbled, crumpling the note and chucking it at Takumi.

* * *

><p><strong>Two days later<strong>

"I'm soo hungry…" Sabo grumbled clutching his stomach, the little wooden ship had been sailing for days now and so far all he's been seeing was ocean.

_I really should've thought over how I was going to find Luffy, before I left the ship._

It was so boring on the ocean alone! He was going to go insane if he had to float like this any longer, and he was starving. Even though he could eat all the fish he wanted; he was craving meat, and those birds flying above him mocked and taunted the poor blonde boy.

"Stupid birds, I swear I'm gonna eat you." He lifted his hands upwards as he rested his back flat on the miniature ship's floor, his feet only meters from touching the other side.

He dropped his hands and stared up at the clear blue sky.

He had been thinking about Luffy a lot the past few days; he was so excited it was unable to contain, he had been waiting forever to see him and it was fun picturing how he would react.

But what if, he gets angry realizing that I could have been there to rescue Ace with him?

Sabo stopped. He couldn't think of that, didn't he already get over it?

_No, not completely._

That was yet another reason to see him; it wasn't exactly that Luffy _needed_ Sabo right now; he was sure that as time passed Luffy would be able to get over it on his own, with his own crew…

But Sabo needed Luffy.

Not mentally, he needed to see Luffy so he could say he was sorry, apologize for everything he's throughout the years. For putting you and Ace through the pain of thinking that I was dead, for never writing you guys' letters, for not being able to save Ace…

And sorry for being a straight out crappy older brother to you, Luffy.

Sabo sighed; I wonder if he will still recognize me? It's been twelve years…he thought, silently tracing his fingertips along burnt skin that covered his body with jagged red streaks; he couldn't tell which ones were from the fire itself, and which ones were caused from being impaled with chunks of falling wood anymore. But, at least he could be grateful that Iva had managed to heal all the burn marks on his face, so at least he could still be somewhat recognizable.

"Grraaah, better catch some more fish…" Sabo frowned and sat up.

* * *

><p><strong>K this was sorta short, but that's because it could either be like this or three times longer. <strong>

**So deal with it k? : )**

**Anyways, just if you were wondering what Makoto is like, I wrote him a short bio. I think I might use him in some of my other fics for fill in characters and such if no one minds an OC stuck in here and there. **

**Full name: Makoto Yoshida**

**Generally a pretty nice and good looking eighteen year old guy; he has shaggy golden hair that seems to never be brushed, plain brown eyes and fairly short, but overly mature for his age. **

**Although he may seem bored and jokingly mean at most times, he is very smart and occasionally will carry a polite side to his personality. He doesn't like to overly swear or drink, and he hardly ever loses his temper; He is a horrid morning person, and his only known addiction is to flavored coffee. **

**I'm too lazy to make Takumi one, so let's just say that he is nineteen, brownish hair and likes to swear and drink. A lot, also he and Makoto have known each other since they were kids.**

**Have a nice day and review if you want the next chapter to come out fast : ) **


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi, see? I'm updating quicker! : P **

_***Whispers* It's because I'm getting reviews...They keep me motivated and stuff…**_

**And this chapter is really long too! So it's like double luck!**

**Enjoy~**

* * *

><p>Sabo woke up in what seemed to be either the beginning night, or very early in the morning; and no, this time it was defiantly not due to nightmares.<p>

In fact, he had been having happy dreams of colorful shaped blobs before the faint splashing noise had woken him up.

Sabo blinked suddenly and jumped up, forgetting he was still on a ship and almost knocking over it over while doing so.

_Gah…Way to big of a splash for a regular fish, so I'm guessing it's probably another Sea King? _Sabo sighed, he really had wanted to get a few more hours of sleep in; and besides it wouldn't be as fun to beat up another sea monster when he was this tired…

"Come on, bastard…Let's get this over with." Sabo yawned and scanned the blackened waters for any sign of the previous movement.

At first he didn't see it; he could've missed it just as easily and chosen to fallen back asleep after realizing there was probably no Sea King. But he didn't miss it.

The ship was far off in the distance, and he was guessing that the large splashes he had woken up to were probably due to the silvery cannonballs that were being shot off from the side of the ship.

Oh, perfect now I just have to wait for them to come a bit closer. Sabo thought as he grinned devilishly and lounged back down to wait for the Marine ship to near.

**(Ha bastards! You thought that was going to be the Straw Hat's ship he saw in the distance, didn't ya? That would be soo totally cliché of me! Kay, back to the story…)**

And besides, now that he was a little more awake, he personally wouldn't mind a fun little fight against some Marines; his muscles were a little cramped from sitting on a boat all day, and some exercise wouldn't hurt.

Also, since it was probably a ship from one of these fleets that had first spread the news that Luffy and his whole crew were indeed still alive, they probably would still have the coordinates saved somewhere… Sabo thought happily, at least he was getting a bit closer.

* * *

><p>Wow, the Marine ship was either <em>a lot <em>farther away than he had thought, or just very slow; it had been at least ten minutes, and the semi-large white ship was only about one third of the distance it used to be.

Sabo stood up again, unable to wait any longer; he decided to use the paddles and row to the marine ship.

"I. Hate. These. Things." Sabo grunted, pulling out the thick wooden slabs from their spot alongside the wall.

Sabo frowned; he could see the sun flittering up just over the cloudy grey sky. So it was morning after all… Sabo counted his fingers, if he left Dragon's ship Tuesday, and there has been three sunrises since then…That means its Friday.

Too bad, Friday was when they usually stopped to restock up on supplies and such; and last Friday Sabo was forced to stay inside and work with the ship's mechanics on a ventilation problem, because they were too stupid to figure it out themselves.

And even worse, the two Fridays before that they had been in a storm and were unable to dock at any island due to the harsh conditions.

Sabo was really starting to miss civilization, and being stuck on a boat by himself for three days certainly wasn't helping that fact.

But I guess it's alright. Sabo smiled; after all he would be seeing some different faces very soon.

Sabo had been paddling awhile and his arms were aching slightly, but it was worth it since the Marine ship was only about twenty meters away.

* * *

><p>"Sir, there is a small boat approaching us."<p>

"Is there anyone aboard?" The Vice Admiral replied to the marine solider.

He squinted against the golden sunrise, and could just make out a figure on the wooden ship; the soldier watched curiously as what seemed to be a man paddled closer.

"Yes, sir there is only one man aboard."

"Well, just ignore it for now; he's probably a fisherman from the island we passed."

"Yes, sir!"

The marine officer glanced again at the wooden boat, it was surprisingly going very fast for a ship with paddles, and it was close enough that he could see what the man looked like.

"Hello over there!" A cheerful voice shouted, and the Vice Admiral watched as the blonde haired man waved to him and his crew.

"What should we do Sir?" An officer whispered.

"He looks like a nice young lad, and he's not waving a flag… But still be careful, it seems odd for a young man like him to be alone here the other half of the Grand Line."

"So should we wave Sir?" one of the other Marines asked.

The Vice Admiral shrugged. "Sure."

* * *

><p>Okay, there are about twenty men on the deck, and probably another sixty some within the ship…Let's set a new record…Sabo thought to himself.<p>

He brought the paddles up from the water and set them down on the floor. Strapping his pole to his back, and securing his top hat; he figured that his boat was about ten feet from the Marine ship.

And then he jumped.

"Excuse me; do you mind telling me the time?" Sabo asked politely to the officer that stood inches away from him.

The Marine jumped backwards a few feet and gasped, "H-how did you jump from your boat to this high up?" he asked, all the other Marines staring blankly at Sabo.

"Tell me the time and I'll tell you my secret." Sabo smiled playfully.

"Umm...Okay, it's 7:02 as of right now." A brave Marine answered from the back.

"Thank you Sir," Sabo bowed "And to answer your question, I can jump so high because I'm awesome; Oh and a Revolutionist." He added with a smile, knowing that most Marines hated the Revolutionary army for their attacks on the world government.

"You're a Revolutionist, eh?" The Vice Admiral asked calmly.

"Should we fight him Sir?" the Marine asked quickly.

"No, don't even bother. Dragon's crew is just a bunch of weaklings who hide in the shadows of his famous title, so it's not worth it; just destroy his boat and throw him in the ocean for the Sea Kings to munch on." The Vice Admiral smirked, waiting to see the blonde's reaction.

The Marines nodded and loaded the cannons quickly, aiming for Sabo's little ship.

"Doesn't this seem slightly familiar?" Sabo muttered and watched as they blew up his wooden boat.

_Sorry Dragon, I'll have to build you another one…_

"See men! I told you he is just a weakling, watch as he just stands there as his ship explodes; what a failure, I bet he's already given up on life." The Vice Admiral laughed, ordering a few men to cuff Sabo and throw him overboard.

_Oh well, guess I'll just have to use this ship instead._ Sabo shrugged "Since we were talking much longer than I expected, the time please?" he asked looking back to the Marine that answered earlier.

"Yeah! Go ahead, Moco tell him the time of his death." A few Marines chuckled.

Moco shrugged, "It's 7:05am, have fun in hell." The marine answered.

"Oh, I will." Sabo nodded, reaching back to pull out the iron pole strapped comfortably against his bare skin, he watched as the Marines gave him confused looks, Oh how he loved it when people looked at him like he was completely insane when they watched him pull out such an odd weapon of choice.

"Soru." Sabo said quietly and smiled.

"Where the hell did he go!" Shouted the Vice Admiral's booming voice, who was staring blankly at the now empty space on the deck, where Sabo had just been standing.

"He's over there!" A few Marines shouted.

"Let's sound the alarms, he can use Soru!"

Sabo stood on the other side of the ship, watching as the Marines shouted at each other and charged towards him. So… he thought to himself; if he used it now, the battle would be over in less than three seconds and he would probably beat his previous record…But he hasn't been able to fight against the Marines alone in awhile…

"Let's drag this out a little ne?" Sabo smiled, pausing to plunge the cold metal of his pole against a few of the incoming Marine's throats, it wasn't enough to kill them; but the impact would probably knock them out for a bit.

He watched as the rest of the Marines piled out through the lower level, and came running into the main deck; some had guns and others had swords; but they couldn't stop Sabo now. He was having such a great time beating the crap out of Marines.

The fight lasted a few more minutes longer, which mostly consisted of Sabo plunging his pole against their backs, and or kicking them senseless. He had barely noticed there was only a few left.

_Oh, Sabo you should stop now…need to leave a few still awake… _Sabo frowned, whenever he got his adrenaline pumping in a fight it was hard to drop it back down to normal.

He walked over to the nearest Marine and nudged him with the pole. The old fashion leather watch that was attached to his hand read 7:07, too bad; looks as though I didn't break my record this time. Sabo grinned, whatever it was fun anyways.

The blonde man turned towards the two Marines who were trembling on the ground,

"Hey, I need your guy's help." Sabo picked his pole off the ground and shoved it into the black strap that looped around one of his shoulders, having the pole secure against his back.

The two Marines sat there staring at each other, after a few minutes they nodded silently. Sabo watched curiously as they both bolted off into different directions; each of the men headed for the opposite side of the ship, ready to jump off the ship and dive into the deep blue water.

Sabo spoke calmly, "Hey, you'll drown if you jump."

The men didn't stop running.

Sabo stepped forward quietly, muttering something. He lifted his hands up, and within an instant both of the men who were mere seconds away from jumping over the railing fell to the ground with a soft 'thud.'

Too bad he had to use that...Now he'd have to go find the person who steered this ship on his own.

He walked down the empty halls of the Marine ship, if the hallways weren't being lit from the rising sun, they would be extremely creepy. And for that he was glad.

He followed the main hallway down to the end, hoping that the man who steered the ship hadn't been in the fight; after all he hadn't really been paying attention to whose ass he kicked…

Sabo stood a few feet away from the door, "Umm I guess this could be it…?" This room was the closet to the tip of the ship, and that's where navigation rooms where usually located right?

Sabo shrugged and turned the knob, walking in to find the navigator/steersman sitting in the front chair, nervously watching the screens that displayed security camera's video.

"Oh cool! So you saw the whole thing right? Was I awesome?" Sabo chuckled and walked farther into the blue carpeted room, and taking a seat in the second swivel chair, a few meters away from the navigator.

"A-are you going to kill me too?" A voice trembled from the chair next to him.

"What do you mean 'too'? I don't kill people!" Sabo laughed friendly "I just need a favor of you."

"W-why me?" the navigator's face paled even more than it already was and he sank far down into the chair.

"Because you're the navigator, duh…" Sabo replied; he was starting to like this guy.

He stared back blankly. Poor guy, Sabo thought he didn't even look that old; probably only around seventeen.

Sabo smiled and shook his head. "Okay, you Marines save all the pirate ship's coordinates you run into right?" Sabo said slowly.

"Uhh…yes we do." The boy's pale blue eyes darted across the room, unable to meet Sabo's.

"Good! Now I need you to give me Mugiwara's coordinates, got that?" Sabo leaned back against the plush chair, wow these Marine chairs sure were comfy; he defiantly needed to get Dragon to buy some of these…Sabo made that a mental reminder.

"But...Why the Straw Hat's? Are you going to kill them also?" the navigator had calmed down a bit, breathing in and out heavily.

Sabo put on his most serious face, "Of course I will," And then just to mess with him, added "Also I will kill you if you do not lead me to him." Sabo pulled out his pole and swung it up to the navigator's neck, holding the bare metal against his trembling skin.

"Okay, I'll do it! Just please… don't kill me!" he threw his hands above his head and started to search frantically through the loose papers on his deck, searching for old records.

Sabo laughed again; He adjusted his hat and reached back to scratch his neck.

A few minutes passed, and he followed the navigator out onto the deck of the ship to watch him as he changed course.

"I'm gonna go find something to drink," Sabo paused,"And don't even bother trying to contact any other Marines, I already disabled all the den-den mushi's on this ship."

The Marine nodded and tugged slightly at the sail, causing it to change direction so they were heading south instead of west.

The marine looked at the bodies of his fellow unconscious Marines tossed around on the deck.

"Vice Admiral is going to kill me when he wakes up...But that top hat guy will kill me now if I don't change the course..." The Marine shuttered, scared for the blonde boy to return.

* * *

><p>"Damn…Where do they keep all the sake around here?"<p>

It was about eight in the morning now, and Sabo was walking through the corridors of the quiet _and empty_ Marine ship.

Sabo pushed opened another door; he stuck his head inside and saw a lounge-like room.

" Perfect!" Sabo said giddily, rushing over to the counter that held at least ten bottles of whiskey, sake, wine, beer…you name it.

Sabo grabbed a couple sakes and a few bottles of beer.

"Mmm...Haven't had this good of stuff in awhile." He commented, retracing his footsteps until he reached the deck again.

The navigator's head shoot upwards when he heard Sabo's footsteps coming towards him; he had just finished tying off the ropes and was currently sitting on the small stairway, looking at the closed eyed and bloody faces of his crewmates and boss.

"Oi, Navigator!" Sabo tossed a can of beer in his direction, and was surprised when the black haired boy managed to catch it.

Sabo walked towards him; cracking open a bottle of sake and sitting down next to the younger looking boy.

The Navigator stared at Sabo, then at the cool beer in his hands. And then back at Sabo.

"You didn't poison it did you?" a shaky voice asked.

"Why would I do that? I need you to help me find Luffy!" Sabo said cheerfully, gulping down a cupful of sake.

"Y-you mean Straw-hat right?" His head faced the ground and he played around with the bottle in his hands.

"Yup." Sabo nodded, "So navigator when are we getting there?"

"Well, from judging where we are now…It should take about two days." The Navigator mumbled, and took a sip of beer.

"Shit, I wanted to see him sooner…But I guess I can wait a little longer."

The navigator gave Sabo a confused look; _wonder what he's planning on doing to the Straw Hats?_

"Well then Navigator; I'm going to go find a room to crash in, see ya later! Don't jump into the ocean."

Sabo stood up and grabbed his sake, walking back down to the lounge room, where he had seen some pretty comfy looking couches.

* * *

><p>Sabo lied down, these Marine couches were a lot harder than they looked…He took another swing from the bottle that hung loosely in between his fingers; it was weird to drink this early in the morning, but he hasn't drunken anything but water since he left Dragon's ship…And besides it might help him get rid of the anxiousness.<p>

He stared up at the weirdly patterned ceiling, and started to remember.

At first, just little details that he had forgotten begun to pop back into his mind; and as he continued to stare upwards; he remembered the things that had long since been discarded over the years.

Guess his mind was making up for lost time?

* * *

><p><em>That day the sky was lit with golden streaks and blue splotches…We were sitting at the cove, watching as the sun set on Goa Kingdom, East Blue.<em>

_It had been a long day, and for now all Sabo wanted was to lie down on the grass peacefully and watch the waves rocking back and forth against the rocks._

_But of course, Luffy had to ruin any hope of that happing._

"_I'm so booored; come on let's go night hunting…" Luffy whined, poking Ace's back rapidity with the stick he had picked up off of the ground moments ago._

_Ace, who had been desperately trying to light a fire with the matches he had stole, swiped around quickly, glaring at Luffy as he smacked the black haired boy across ground._

"_We just went hunting! If you want to that bad, go on your own dammit!"_

_The boy sat up and wiped his eyes, looking up to see that Ace had turned his back, cursing as he tried to light a fire…_

_The boy stood up and walked silently over to Sabo, who sighed and watched as Luffy sat a few feet away and drew little circles in a dirt patch with his fingers…_

_Sabo glanced over again; Luffy was still looking at the ground, his hat covering most of his face._

_Sabo stood up and walked over to Luffy. He waited a few moments, and then yanked Luffy off the ground, dragging him towards the forest._

"_Ace, we'll be back in a little while!" Sabo waved one hand over his shoulder; the other still dragging Luffy by his tee shirt._

_Ace nodded not looking at either of them._

"_Where are we going Sabo?" Luffy asked curiously._

"_You wanted to go hunting didn't you?" Sabo replied._

_His eyes lit up, "We're going hunting?" he asked hopefully._

"_No."_

"_What? But you said..." Luffy looked up at Sabo._

_They walked through the woods in silence until they were at a familiar clearing; the sky was almost completely dark, and the two boys could hear rustling branches from the animals as they went through their nighttime routines._

"_Oi...Sabo it's really dark now…" Luffy clutched tightly onto Sabo's shirt, burying his head against the boy's upper chest._

_Sabo sighed, "Luffy, its fine."_

_Luffy didn't move._

_Sabo pulled Luffy off of him and sat down on a fallen branch; Luffy quickly sat down next to him._

_There was a silence between the two until Luffy spoke up._

"_Sabo, why does Ace still hate me so much?" Luffy blurted out._

_Sabo turned towards Luffy, he could barely see his face in the darkness; but he knew he was frowning._

"_Congrats Luffy, you figured out why I brought you out here." He patted Luffy's straw hat._

_Luffy looked up, confused. _

"_Well Luffy…Tonight is going to one of those times when I act like an older brother, okay?" _

_Luffy nodded, and then realizing that Sabo couldn't see him, replied _

"_Oh-ki, Sabo…"_

"_So, I guess first things first" Sabo paused to make sure Luffy was listening. _

"_Luffy, Ace does not hate you."_

_Luffy pouted, "Then why is he always grumpy and mean to me?" _

_Sabo scratched his head, the kid had a point… "I'm sure he never means to be like that, it is just that he isn't used to having friends…and deep down he cares about you too Luffy."_

"_Really?" Luffy said excitedly._

_Sabo grinned, and leant over to pull Luffy into a hug; he was happy how easily Luffy would forgive someone._

"_Let's go back now Sabo, Ace is probably lonely." Luffy said, tugging Sabo up with him._

_They walked back through the forest until they reached the cliff area again._

_Ace sat with his legs crossed on the ground, glancing up as Sabo and Luffy came walking out from the woods._

"_Turns out the matches got a little wet…" Ace stood up and scratched his head "And Luffy… I'm-" he started to awkwardly apologize; just when he was knocked to the ground by Luffy's compulsive hugging._

"_It's 'kay Ace! I'm not mad anymore!" Luffy declared_

_Ace glanced over at Sabo, and then smiled._

"_Good, now please get off of me."_

_Luffy let go and grinned, turning towards Sabo as he started talking._

"_Oi guys, we should go back now, it's getting late."_

_Ace and Luffy nodded, and the three of them walked back to the tree-house; Sabo and Ace had to carry Luffy since of course, he fell asleep halfway there._

_Don't worry Luffy; your big brothers will always be here._

* * *

><p>Sabo sat up, setting the empty bottle clanking against the floor.<p>

He was going to see Luffy.

It was about time.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay~ I hope you liked it a lot : ) hope you don't mind but I really wanted to write another flashback, cuz I love writing from little AS/L's point of view.**

**My back really hurts right now… it has like a huge kink in it; and its 2am so I can't get anyone to walk on it for me… **

**And also! My parents are going to Colorado for like five days… so I have to stay with my cousins **

**(And since my uncle makes fun of me for being obsessed with anime I can't use their computer to write :P) Soo sorry, I probably won't update for like another week or something. **

**Wish me luck, my cousins are all obnoxious; and well, not to mention cute…But still they're all under ten O_0**

**Goodbye, and please review for a quicker chapter release! **

**And I think you all know what will happen next chapter….**

***grins and then falls of computer chair***


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi, I finally updated! Sorry for the wait… I just got back from my cousin's house! **

**_(~Omgigosh-my-cousins-are-like-the-cutest-little-ninja-devil-angel-thingys-ever-I-swear~)_**

**Anyway, I got a good plot forming in how I'm gonna end this thing; like actually I have lots of ways planned out in my mind that I could end this…but overall, there will probably be like three more chapters or something…I donno XD**

**Also; this chapter might be kinda OOC for Sabo…But who knows? His personality could've changed a lot since he was ten… Actually; now that I think about it this whole fic is kinda OOC for Sabo, but let's just blame that on puberty again :P_ or how hyped up Sabo gets when he's drunken too much sake and daydreamed to much about meeting Luffy again._**

**Also, I have a really long explanation about why Sabo is so strong. Like really, it totally makes sense; but I don't really want to spam the chapter with it, cuz it's looong. So tell me if you want to hear it then I'll stick it in the next chapter.**

**~OFF WE GO**

* * *

><p><em>Well now, this is just shitty…<em>

The swordsman who had previously been dozing calmly against the staircase suddenly grumbled and sat up, he stared at the sky; and instantly felt the wetness as drops of rain splattered against his face and hair, making him feel grumpy and cold.

"Damn, it's raining…Just my luck too." he looked down at the little wet splatters that covered his clothes, glancing up to see the shallow puddles forming across the Sunny.

The rain continued to fall steadily for a few more hours, and Zoro continued to sit against the wet stairs; he drank sake and watched the rain make little ripples as it fell into the nearly black seawater. He considered going down to the men's cabin to force the cook to take the rest of tonight's shift; but decided against it, even though he was cold and dripping wet… He really didn't mind, it gave him some time to think without being woken up by Luffy's obnoxious snoring, or Usopp's random nighttime rants… Even though; it would be funny to kick a half-assed Sanji out in the pouring rain; and since the cook hadn't done nearly as many shifts as Zoro, that meant he couldn't fight back without Nami screaming at him…

He weighed his options; torment the shitty cook or have some alone time…

"Yeah, I'm gonna go with the eyebrow." Zoro grinned, chugging down the rest of his sake and heading for the cabin room.

He was about halfway across the deck when he stopped suddenly; he glanced behind his shoulder, seeing the beam of light coming from across the water; his hands instantly flew to his waist. Unsheathing his katanas, he followed the wall to the front of the ship. He would wake the shitty cook _after_ he murdered some Marines.

* * *

><p><strong>(AN-I think someone asked me to write more about the navigator or something; lol I tried to incorporate him a bit, so enjoy whoever you were!)<strong>

The blond boy woke slightly as he felt a hand shake his shoulder; he yawned loadly and swatted it away, trying to fall back asleep.

_To early… _he thought, burying his head further against the stiff Marine couch.

"Sir, wake up please!" The voice practically begged him, as he felt another shake to his left shoulder.

"So annoying…"Sabo mumbled, lifting his face from the pillow he had been clutching onto. He blinked and his eyes began to adjust to the florescent overhead lights; he saw the figure that before him scurry back into the corner.

"Eh…" The brown haired man began nervously mumbling at the floor, afraid to say what he knew he had to.

Sabo sat up and remembered he fell asleep on the lounge couches again. He rubbed his bare back. _Shit, these things really aren't anywhere as near comfy as they looked._ His eyes searched the room for a clock he knew was there, rested against the clean white walls he found one.

_3:48 am_ the clock read; he looked back at the Navigator who was staring at the floor scratching his head nervously, probably waiting for him to do something.

"Oi, Navigator…Why'd you wake me up so early?" Sabo yawned, chucking a pillow directed at the brown haired man's head.

"Wait-!" he shouted; throwing his hands above his head as the pillow smacked him square in the face, leaving a red mark where the seam had smacked him. (Dear reader, please don't ever doubt Sabo's ability to kill a person with only a pillow.)

Sabo chuckled, he loved to torment this guy; it was so easy too.

The navigator calmed down and rubbed his face. "Well…Sir, Straw hat's ship has been found; they are currently about twenty meters away from us..." Sabo jumped from the couch; "Wow, it only took you a day and a half, that's awesome!" he exclaimed; grabbing his hat from the carpet and dragging the younger boy behind him as he ran to the deck of the Marine ship.

_Shit…He's gonna kill me; Since now he doesn't need me to guide him to the Straw hat's ship… He can easily slit my throat and toss me over-board! Or I bet just one smack with that pole and I would probably die…Why didn't I take the longer way here; then maybe I could've lived for a few more days… _The navigator panicked, he really didn't want to die yet…he was barely seventeen! He still wanted to do stuff… Like make a book of the recorded coordinates of every island on the Grand Line; he wanted to be promoted as head navigator on an Admiral's ship! Then after he was famous and respected as a great Marine navigator, he would settle down… Marry a pretty lassie; start a family, have four kids and a pet chinchilla, then retire peacefully in North blue!

That had always been his lifetime dream… and now that stupid top-hat guy was just going to ruin everything he had been working so hard towards in an instant!

_He never had even gotten to say goodbye… _

The navigator sniffled, he felt so defeated…and being dragged through the Marine hallways like a stupid ragdoll was not helping.

* * *

><p>When Sabo reached the main deck he dropped the navigator to the wet ground and hurried to the front of the ship; He grinned even wider in seeing the ship in front of them.<p>

Their ship was so much bigger in person! He awed at it like a little boy who was seeing a Seaking for the first time. Looks like you found yourself a damn good shipwright, Luffy! Sabo then turned back to the Navigator, who was now nervously shaking on the floor of the ship.

_So this is how it was going to end. He was going to be murdered by an insane revolutionist then thrown overboard to hide the evidence…Just great._

He looked up at Sabo, the rain was pelting the man's bare chest and he was bouncing around like a puppy; grinning like a lunatic who just remembered he could get a high off snorting nutmeg.

_After he kills me,_ the navigator thought sadly; _he'll probably go rape the Straw-hat guy or something…_

Sabo ran over to the navigator, grabbing his shoulders so he that faced the blond man's grinning face; _this is it then… _Even though the Navigator wasn't at all religious, he started to pray that it would be a quick death.

"Oi, your crewmates will wake up in about an hour," Sabo smiled, letting go of the navigator's shoulders and backing up a few feet to bend down in a gentlemen-ish bow, grabbing his hat as it almost fell from his head. "Thank you so much for leading me here! Have a good life, ジョー!" and with that Sabo stood up, waved and jumped the somewhat-long distance between the two ships; using his pole to accelerate the movement.

The navigator stared at his hands in shock for a few minutes before realizing he was still alive.

"Such a lunatic…" He shivered, standing back up and preparing to sail back on course before the Vice Admiral woke.

* * *

><p>Zoro watched curiously, as the two men conversed aboard the Marine vessel; <em>looks like the Marines from last week on to our location…And called for reinforcements. <em> Zoro smiled, ducking swiftly into a small storage room. After all, he wanted to see just what these bastards would try to do.

He heard a set of footsteps; _weird…_ Zoro thought, _weren't there two of them_?

Sabo looked around the ship, _how come no one's on guard?_ How strange; Luffy and his crew should consider that they could totally be attacked at nighttime too. He pouted, guess he'd just have to wait out here till the crew woke up…in the rain…middle of the night…alone…anxious…

"Gaaah…I don't…want to wait…!" Sabo called out as he dramatically collapsed to the ground; Guess he could walk around the ship and try to find where the crew was sleeping… Go knock down the door; smack Luffy until he woke up… It was really sounding like a better and better idea to Sabo...

Then he remembered what Dragon said; Oh yeah…He still thinks I'm dead.

Crap, the poor kid would probably have a seizure if he saw his 'dead' brother's face in the middle of the night; then Sabo would have to go and wake up the rest of the crew and explain stuff…

"You know what! I don't care what Dragon says, I'm gonna go smack that kid 'till he wakes up!" Sabo stood back up, smiling proudly.

"I don't think you're gonna be smacking anybody with your arms cut off." Zoro stepped out, looking across at the smiling blond man as he turned around; this Marine was weird, out of uniform too; must be a higher up, or an extreme rookie.

Sabo's smile grew wider in a devilish way, _Oh how wonderful; Luffy hasn't forget the nighttime security. _

"You must be Zoro Roronoa, pleasant to meet you!" Sabo bowed politely.

Zoro stared back at him, "What do you want bastard?" He drew out his swords as the blond man continued.

"Just wanna talk with your Captain" Sabo smiled, ah so it was going to turn out this way… This could be a fun way to pass the time until Luffy woke up; he would finally be able to see just how strong this swordsman guy was, without hurting him too much of course.

"Rejected, I won't let an idiot like you get close to Luffy"

However, before Sabo had a chance to reply; he was faced by Zoro's incoming swords, which were aiming directly for his neck… He ducked at the last second and missed Zoro's katana by mere inches.

Zoro watched, confused for a second before swiping back around and slashing backwards at Sabo.

"Almost got me that time~" Sabo wiped around so fast, that it was a blur to Zoro.

Zoro smiled, _Ah so this Marine is somewhat good…and fast too, guess I shouldn't go easy anymore._

"You gonna stop dodging and start fighting anytime soon?" Zoro smirked. This guy reminded him of a monkey, but was that weird thing strapped across his back a weapon or what?

"I was just waiting for you." Sabo pulled out his pole, twirling it around his fingers like a baton before efficiently slamming it into Zoro's chest.

Zoro was knocked back a bit, _How the hell? That hit was definitely something different from the Soru he had been using..._

Sabo swung his pole back around his neck; considering a second hit at the swordsman, when he suddenly felt a jab from behind, the kick almost knocking Sabo over.

Sanji stared at the glaring swordsman, then a few feet away at the smiling blond man; who seemed to be only slightly affected by his kick. That was odd. He looked back at Zoro, "Who is he?" Sanji pointed casually.

"Got off a Marine ship and asked for Lu." He grumbled and lunged back towards Sabo. Sanji shrugged hands in pocket and joined the fight.

"Why are you here anyway, bastard brow?" Zoro dodged Sabo's pole and turned to glare at Sanji some more.

"Stupid marimo, you are the one who woke me up with your stupid shouting."

"Sorry I woke you from your beauty sleep, love cook." Zoro glared at Sanji "Now leave; I already have this bastard under control."

"Yeah I believe that," Sanji commented sarcastically. "He dodges your every attack and still manages to insult you; you definitely have him under control."

_Their bickering is annoying…and this is getting boring. _ Sabo thought to himself. Now it seemed they were fighting each other more than they were fighting with him. Sabo looked at the two, "Oi guys! This is boring; where's your Captain asleep at?" They turned around, remembering that Sabo was still there.

"Why do you wanna know, stalker?" Sanji smirked.

"Well... now that you mention it," Sabo grinned playfully at the smirking cook; "It's a hobby of mine to stalk nineteen year old boys."

Zoro's face slipped into a smile. "Nice hobby you got there, too bad you won't around much longer to enjoy it."

SPACE HERE

"Hey, Usopp bro, do you hear that...? Franky nudged at Usopp; who was already awake due to the loud noises coming from the deck. Usopp shrugged, "Maybe we should go investigate…"

Franky nodded, "What about the rest of the crew, should we wake them up also?"

"I'm already up." a small voice came from the other side of the room; the reindeer stood and trotted over to Franky's corner of the bedroom.

"Yeah, me too; I can't shut my eye's with this noise." Brook paused "Oh, wait! I don't have eyes!" He irrupted into his usual annoying laughter and stood up.

"Okay, so everyone's up except Luffy, oh and maybe Robin and Nami…" Usopp stated

"It sounds pretty nasty out there; maybe we should wake Luffy too?" Franky asked, glancing over at the hammock where Luffy was happily snoring.

"No, don't wake him up!" Chopper said in a kind of whispery shout. "He's been in a weird mood lately, and if he doesn't get the right amount of sleep, he'll be even worse! Anyway, we don't need him; Zoro and Sanji can probably handle it." Chopper explained.

The three who where up stayed silent for a minute, before Franky spoke up; "Chopper-bro your probably right; but I still wanna see what's going on down there!" Usopp and Brooke nodded in agreement and followed Franky out the door.

Chopper sighed; they would probably need a doctor, he thought; judging from the array of shouts, sword slashes and badly planned insults he was hearing, they would need him soon.

SPACE HERE

The poor blue noised reindeer almost fainted when he saw what was up on the deck, Nami and Robin had woken up; and were just joining the fight also, teaming with Franky, Usopp and Brook.

As it was clear that Zoro and Sanji had been battling longer, they were both already panting hard, slight bruises and cuts already forming. Then there was another man, one who was also covered in cuts, blood seeping out, but then being washed away by the falling rain.

Chopper; being a doctor and all, instantly noticed the man also had deep burn marks scattered across his chest and arms, but the doctor guessed those were probably years old; not like that was anything new to him, being a pirate and all he had seen lot's of bad scars. _Wonder what those are from… _Chopper couldn't help but wonder.

Sabo continued madly swinging around his pole, blocking Zoro's frustrated sword slashes, Robin's Hana Hana no mi, Nami's climate attacks and so on; not to say he wasn't smacked around a few times; because he was, and still laughing proudly whenever Zoro or Sanji swore at the bouncing blond boy.

He looked across the faces of the Straw-hat pirates, _still no Luffy… _He thought sadly; it was fun fighting with his crew, but really; isn't it just to ironic that he's the last to show up?

"What the hell do want anyway?" Franky shouted, aiming for Sabo with his burst thing.

Sabo swung over backwards in a cartwheel/ back flip type of thing, passing by Franky's attack and jumping into the air again as Usopp tried to strangle him with his vine type move.

"I already told the green haired dude, almost five times now." Sabo smiled again, "I really just want to talk with him."

"Sure, I believe that." Sanji panted, kicking at Sabo again and successfully hitting him from the back.

"If you just wanna talk to him, why are you fighting us bro?" Franky asked, confused.

Sabo pointed over at Zoro accusingly. "He started it."

"It wasn't _my_ fault, he's a Marine." Zoro grumbled; the man with the top hat grinned _Oh he thinks I'm a Marine? Well, I figured that… _Sabo thought; ducking away from an incoming attack by Nami and then stopping to re-position his hat as it almost fell off his head; he brought it down farther so it just covered his eyes.

It was probably like four in the morning by now…But he was so jacked up on adrenaline that he didn't even feel tired; or in that case, any pain at all. Weird how that always seemed to happened to him when he fought…

"Well, then just go away stupid Marine!" Chopper cried; breaking Sabo's train of thought.

"No thank you, I have some business here." Sabo replied politely, shoving Nami aside and wondering how much longer the crew would be able to keep it up, _they must be getting somewhat tired_… Sabo wondered.

They had been fighting for over an hour; Zoro had been able to get a few hits in, but for the most part, this kid could really dodge. Just who the hell was he anyway? Zoro was starting to doubt he was a Marine…After all, if he was a Marine and this strong; then he would defiantly be more known. Well, Zoro couldn't quite figure it out; but it was something about this guy…Although he was definitely strong, he just really didn't seem like he had a bad intent or anything...Maybe he should just go wake up Luffy so they could talk or do whatever?

Zoro thought it over for a second; then again, this ocean was full with certain maniacs who were searching for Luffy; and as his nakama, it was their job to help filter out all of those unworthy maniacs. Yeah…maybe he should just be on the safe side and knock this guy overboard so that he wouldn't cause any unnecessary trouble.

* * *

><p>Sanji wiped away the droplets of rainwater that had been splattering his vision, cussing when he saw the other blond standing a few feet behind him, not really paying attention to the fight in fact. Lunging around and swinging his leg backwards, Sanji was sure he had gotten him. Then he cussed more when Sabo ducked, and skidded out of the way, using his pole to keep balance.<p>

Sanji came up behind Sabo again, getting ready to knock him out for good this time, after all Sanji was plenty fast too. Sabo wiped around, twirling to face Sanji as he fell the other way; "Sorry, man." Sabo laughed as he smacked the pole hard against the other blond haired man's waist-area, protecting himself from another one of Sanji's bone-breaking kicks.

Moreover, he could smack a wrought iron pole very hard, so it was no surprise when Sanji fell to the ground, coughing up small amounts of blood on his black suit.

"Sanji!" Chopper called, running over to him; The man stubbornly pushed himself off the ground, not wanting Chopper's help at the moment.

_Maybe that was too hard… _Sabo thought, scratching his head as some of the remaining crewmembers lunged towards him and almost had him pinned down.

_Nahh, his crew is strong enough. _

Zoro was pissed; he just couldn't get a good swing at this guy…

"What the fuck is your problem!" he growled, jumping at Sabo with his katanas and all, who attempted to dodge, then saw that he could not move his feet.

"Shit…" Sabo murmured, glancing at the pair of hands that held his feet in place.

"Thanks Robin, should've done it sooner though…" Zoro laughed, closing in on Sabo quickly.

* * *

><p>Sabo watched Zoro leap forward at him, katanas in hand…Ready to cut through his flesh. And he couldn't even move …<p>

_How wonderful; _Sabo thought.

Zoro didn't look twice at the man before he slashed down at Sabo; and this time he was sure that he had gotten him, _after all…Where did he have to go?_

Metal hit metal as they came together. _Wait what...? _Zoro thought anxiously; he didn't feel the usual flesh-to-metal ratio that he had gotten used to, being a swordsman and all… He looked down at Sabo, who was crouched close to the ground, his one arm straining to hold up his pole against the force of Zoro's sword.

"What? How did that not cut you?" Usopp shouted, unable to explain how Sabo moved so quickly.

Zoro stared at him, _Crap…He used his pole to block my attack. Again, that damn bastard._ Zoro glared at him, the corners of his mouth turned upwards into a devilish smirk as a _genius _idea came to him_. _He brought the sword over his head again, and before Sabo could move; swung it hard against the iron, splitting it in two.

"Ha, bastard! What are you gonna do now that your stupid pole broke!" Zoro laughed, pointing at Sabo like a little kid; Sabo wrestled free of Robin's grasp and picked up the broken pole.

"Dammit! You cut my pole in half!" Sabo yelled, and chucked the halves at Zoro "Like really, that is just offensive! Do you know how long it took me to make this thing awesome?" Sabo pouted.

"Guess I'll have to fix it later. Again." He added.

Then he turned to Zoro, the only Strawhat who wasn't completely exhausted.

"Wanna give up and just let me talk to Luffy?" Sabo asked, rubbing his neck; he was kinda tired too, and he _was_ bleeding a lot…This fight had dragged on more than he wanted it to.

"No, we fight until the other collapses." Zoro stated, raising his swords again. He would not lose to this bastard; especially now that he had a chance, with his pole being broken and all.

"Wow really? Umm... I don't think that's a good idea." Sabo shrugged

"Wimp." Zoro smiled.

"Well, now that you have insulted me; it looks like I just _simply _cannot walk away from this battle." Sabo said, returning the smile.

Zoro didn't hesitate, he plunged at Sabo; and Sabo dodged it just as quick.

"What do you think we should do?" Brook whispered to Usopp.

"Umm…Let them fight it out I guess?"

* * *

><p>The room was dark, which wasn't all that strange… He thought, sitting upright and scratching his messy black hair.<p>

_But where is everyone?_

Luffy swiped up the straw hat that must've fallen off while he slept and placed it lazily back on his head; that was another weird thing…He had actually slept some tonight, and he didn't dream.

Not once, It was just; pure blankness. Somewhat peaceful actually… like really peaceful now that he thought about it, and it was hard to admit to himself, but he was kinda sad to have woken up from the nothingness.

"I wonder where everyone is?" he asked out load; glancing at the empty beds again. _It was must be pretty early_…

_They had better not be eating without him…That. Would. Suck._

And that was all the motivation Luffy needed, he jumped out of his hammock thing, throwing his usual red vest over his bare chest and wondered up the wooden stairs.

_Oh…It's raining._

* * *

><p>"Luffy-bro! You finally awake!" Franky called out excitedly; <em>maybe now, things could get a little more interesting. <em>

Something wasn't right… Luffy thought, seeing at the mess in front of him; then noticing the tired faces of his nakama; just standing around, not really wanting to interfere with the battle, _but at least they were not eating without him._

Luffy did a double take again; why did his crew look so exhausted anyway? Also, who was that shirtless guy Zoro was fighting with? He seemed kinda cool, but why was he on the Sunny this early in the morning…?

"Oi, who the hell are you?" Luffy shouted, watching the blond man laugh at the exhausted swordsman; although they both looked as though they could fall over any minute, though the top hat guy was clearly _a lot _more happy than the green haired man.

"Luffy!" Two voices shouted, blocking each other out as they came from almost near ranges.

"Roronoa," Sabo turned to Zoro, "Let's save this battle for later, kay?" Sabo finished, kicking him hard in the gut and then swiftly dodging the rubbery fists that flew towards him.

Sabo grinned, looking across at Luffy; _it's nice to finally fight with you again Luffy. _

_Even if you do probably still suck._

Zoro stood back up, he wasn't finished beating the crap out of this guy yet! He respected his Captain and all, but still they were in middle of a fight…

"Oi, Luffy; you sure you don't need any help?" Zoro said jokingly, even though he was kinda surprised; that guy still managed to easily dodge every attacked thrown by Luffy. _That's new, it's like he already knows all of Luffy's attacks by heart…Weirdo._

"No, I can take of him." Luffy shouted back to Zoro in a sort of monotone voice.

_There was seriously something disturbingly familiar about this guy… _Luffy paused; he was annoyed by it, the fact that he couldn't quite remember what he was so pissed off at it made it so much worse, because Luffy was rarely, if ever that annoyed at anything.

But it was just something about the guy in front of him that wasn't right…. Something clicked in Luffy's brain, the way he dodged and jumped; strange enough… It reminded him of Ace?

He threw his arm out again, watching the man cross over duck down at the last second. _He was going crazy. Yes, that was not just Ace's style…_

_Dammit, can't be._

Really, he just wanted to go back to bed; this wasn't going well for him, the memories he had been trying to compress were coming back into him, and he was beginning to get really panicked,_ if any of his crew saw him like that…_

_They would think he was weak._

So Luffy tried to refrain himself from screaming at the man in front of him, tried to stop thinking all together and just focus on beating up this asshole so he could go back to bed and pretend this encounter never happened.

The black haired boy paused for a minute, _Let's get it over quickly._

"Gear-" He was cut off by a quick punch in his gut, obviously infused with Haki; because otherwise he wouldn't have felt it.

"Ouch, dammit…" he pulled himself off the ground rubbed his stomach, throwing another punch. Yeah…If this idiot wanted to play Haki; he would too.

His punch was caught in midair, and he looked on confusingly as he felt himself shoved up against the railing by strong muscles that he wasn't able to break free of.

The Straw-hat crew stared in shock at their Captain inches from falling into the peacefully dark seawater, Sanji cussing loudly and leaping upwards.

"Wait, Sanji!" Luffy yelled shakily as the grip around him unnoticeably loosened.

Sanji stood there confused, "Are stupid? Shit, do you want to drown idiot!"

Luffy didn't hear Sanji's response, or in that case; any of other of his nakama's shouts. He was too busy staring at the face in front of him.

"Good job Luffy, you've improved."

The crew wasn't sure what to do, so they watched the young captain with shock.

_Yes, definitely too familiar; I am going crazy right? _

Sabo smiled, letting go of Luffy's shoulder, and staring back at him with a sad smile.

_Don't you remember me?_

No.

He didn't just remember, but felt it; every detail. So hard that it burned.

_How could I forget? _

_Those nights that we spent sprawled out by the fire, the three of us; we would talk nonsense and laugh at the waves,_

_ I would fall asleep._

_ You and Ace would always end up carrying me back. Strangely, Ace wouldn't complain. We would all end up sleeping together, in a big cozy pile of tangled limbs and drool. I got used to that, used to the comfort my brothers had given me, and I knew I would never be alone as long as I had you two._

_Well guess what Sabo? _

_It's not as warm with only one brother, much less none._

Luffy stared at crystal blue eyes, and tears formed in his own.

_It wasn't real, he was just dreaming again._

His back fell against the railing as he slid down to the ground and he pulled his legs up to meet his chest, staring accusingly at the face in front of him, then burying his hands in his tangled black hair.

"No." his voice sounded painful as it turned from a whisper to a load raspy shout.

"No, this isn't right… Dogra, he saw it; and he wouldn't lie dammit!" Luffy ranted as his crew stared in shock. Tears streamed down his face as he went on in a painful tone, staring strait into blue eyes. "When we heard the news…Ace cried for the first time. We were a trio, we shared cups of sake and went on adventures together…You were my brothers; and I was sure that as long as I had you two I would never be alone again."

Luffy broke his gaze away from the pure blue eyes and stared at the wet ground, his voice softening a bit. "Sabo, it's strange how things work. You and Ace told me that big brothers are always there to protect younger brothers."

"So why…" Luffy sniffled away at the sobs that were forcing to overtake him. "Why did my older brothers have to die?" Luffy practically screamed, clenching his fists together until he could feel his fingertips digging in his skin. "It was you first, Sabo! I knew it would never be as perfect without you there, but I also knew I would never be alone; I still had Ace."

"But you know what happened?" Luffy couldn't take it anymore, _just let this end_; he wanted to wake up and stop remembering, just to stop it all.

"My big brother died in my arms."

* * *

><p><strong>How was THAT? Petty long ehh…. <strong>

**What did you think of the reunion? *Grins* I'm kinda proud of myself, I even cried when I wrote the last part, Blame it on the Three Days Grace songs I was listening to.**

**Gahh…But now I'm so depressed again, like seriously If I start thinking of Ace again; I'm gonna cry.**

**Reviews really motivate me, like seriously I promise to try and write faster if i get more reviews. And if you don't want to review for me, review for Luffy; he needs some love right now. ****J**

**~Ally out**


	6. Chapter 6

**HI AGAIN. OMYFRUCKINGGAWD I'M SO SORRY FOR THE LATE LATE LATE CHAPTER.**

**I actually wrote like half of this a day after I finished the last chapter, (long time ago lol) then all inspiration just ran away.**

**IT JUST RAN AWAY I SWEEAR.**

**And school started…and you know I can like only focus on this kind of stuff when it's two in the morning, cuz then my siblings aren't driving me nuts…So I didn't have the time. :P**

**Also, thanks so much for the reviews, really it means soo much to know that people like this and I should still write! (ps- sorry if I didn't reply, I kinda lost track of who I talked to lol)**

**Kayonwards!**

**Btw- Sorry, but I really don't like to write all of the crew at the same time DX it's hard…especially Brook…(he..is…weird..) So, sorry if they don't have lots of parts in this fic cuz I'm to lazy to figure out how to write their personalities... **

**I kinda suggest you go back and read the last chapter btw, like if you are following this that isssss….Because it leads off directly from the last part…**

**Kay, have fun!**

* * *

><p>"Both of you… you died, dammit!" Luffy choked out a few more sobs and continued, "And this…this is just another stupid nightmare! You're not really here, are you Sabo?" Luffy shook his head and continued to stare at the ground.<p>

Sabo gazed down at the younger man- well, his brother who was comfortably crouched on the floor of the ship, mere feet away from him. Sabo could do it, after all he had to do was walk a few feet forward and reach his arm out; but something stopped him before doing so. This wasn't like the old days, and it probably couldn't be solved with something so simple as a hug.

Sabo had expected that much.

Luffy couldn't look up, couldn't even move his head an inch; so he just continued to stare at the puddles of blood and rainwater that mixed and settled nicely in front of him. Inside his mind was going mad; thoughts, dreams, reality…It was just all too chaotic at the moment, and Luffy was sure the only way to end it was to wake up from this stupid dream already. Though that was the most logical reason, we all know how Luffy isn't all that logical, so he was strongly doubting the dream theory.

The almost forgotten crew stood scattered around the ship, still exhausted from their previous fight; but mostly just in total disbelief of what they had just witnessed.

"What the hell is going on?" Zoro growled as he broke the silence.

Swearing as he shook his head, he couldn't think straight. _It was too confusing_! _Frick'n top hat guy, barging in their crew and making everything so frick'n complicated._ None of the crew really understood what was going on after all, they were all just so shocked at seeing Luffy like this-their captain, the one who was always so strong and happy, (sometimes to the point that it was _seriously_ annoying .) It was just that none of them would've known he could ever manage something like this. But he did. And no one knew what to do.

Sabo picked up Luffy's fallen hat, holding the thing that gave him goose bumps inches away face. _When had his hat become so small that he could no longer pull it over his head and bury his face in it? Wasn't that always his defense as a kid? Or more like, when did Luffy grow so big and stop needing to be comforted by such a simple thing?_

He stared at the worn out hat for few more seconds before walking closer to Luffy's trembling body. Kneeling down, and not at all caring that Makoto would probably have to buy new pants judging the condition they were in now, he let the straw hat fall gently on Luffy's black tangled and damp hair. Sabo reached outwards, quickly wrapping his arms around Luffy's shoulders; and pulling him closer into an awkward looking hug, but nonetheless, Sabo smiled and let his head fall against Luffy's shoulders.

"Luffy you idiot, did it seriously take you this long to realize that you weren't dreaming?" Sabo snickered quietly.

A trembling smile ran across Luffy's face as he swung his arms tightly around Sabo's waist,

"Sabo…We missed you"

Sabo looked down at the boy that was clutching tightly to him, his head buried against the older brother's bare back.

'_We missed you.'_

Sabo felt salty tears fall down his cheeks and onto the already wet floor. "Yeah, all those years…I really missed you both too."

"Hey…Do you know what the hell is going on?" Usopp whispered quickly to the nearest person he could find- who was Chopper.

Chopper shook his head. "This is too weird, maybe a mental illness…" he replied in a hushed tone.

"It's not a mental illness idiot! Stop interrupting the moment danmit, can't you see that this person means a lot to Luffy!" Nami screamed in a whispered tone at the two.

"I don't believe this, this could be his Devil Fruit power or something, messing with people's emotions. And since Luffy is already so messed up, that just makes it a whole lot easier- you know." Zoro mumbled, trying to find a good enough reason to kick this guy's ass off their ship.

"Good point…But this man doesn't have a Devil's fruit, I would've known." Robin said in her usual monotone voice.

"Well…He could have just been hiding that he has Devil's fruit powers, you know we can never know for sure until we throw him into the ocean!" Usopp and Chopper agreed.

"No need to, I am now absolutely positive that I've meet this man before, and Dragon would've informed me if he's had the Devil's fruit."

Everyone silenced their discussions as they all turned to face Robin,

"You…Meet him? Why did you not tell us this before, you know it could have been helpful, sis! So is he good bad or what?" Franky said a little too loudly.

"Nah, I guess I'm a good guy; in your terms of course." Sabo spoke up, pulling Luffy up with him as he stood to face the others, smiling widely as usual.

"Well, I wasn't really sure if I had seen him before, but now I know as a fact that I meet him on Dragon's ship two years ago." Robin clarified simply, smiling calmly at Sabo.

Sabo smiled back lightly. "Uh, sorry I don't remember you at all."

"I don't blame you for forgetting, you were heavily intoxicated when we first meet anyway."

"Ha…Sorry, I guess?" Sabo tried to keep his voice as steady as possible, but that brought back some painful memories.

_So she came two years ago, right after 'that'… I wonder why the hell Dragon would let anyone come to see me. Was he mocking me? I even forcefully made Makoto and Takumi stay away, didn't I? It was so horrible; everything was broken after that, all my motivation for training even the least bit was lost, and it was extremely difficult to sleep, or even eat during that time. I was a total wreck..._

Sanji lit a cigarette and spoke up, "I'm going to make some tea; Chopper, go fix the marimo and Luffy's friend, would 'ya?" He shrugged quietly and started towards the kitchen.

"Oh…Ha, sorry I made a mess on your ship Luffy." Sabo laughed, examining his own wounds at the same time. That swordsman sure did leave some pretty big gashes.

Not that it hurt or anything, after all he was sure that right now he could jump off a canyon, land in a pit of spikes, followed by a thousand Sea kings and he would still be perfectly happy.

Because he finally got to meet Luffy, and that was all he really wanted anyways.

"It's okay, Franky can fix it. He's cool!" Luffy smiled.

Sabo returned the smile, tugging on Luffy's arm. "Now come 'on now Lu, show me where some food and sake is, I'm totally starved."

"Okay!"

* * *

><p><strong>Wow…short chapter! Umm… I have the other part written too, but I' gonna fix it up a bit! <strong>

**And Omigod, I just went back and read chapter 1+2 lol they totally sucked sorry maybe I'll fix 'em sometime? . **

**Uggh I'm super tired and it's a school night…Greaaat.**

**-LAter! REview!**


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